Biffa bin lorries in the Wirral will be getting CCTV installed to catch out drivers who endanger lives.
The well-known waste disposal company is working with local police and council members to launch their DROPs (Driving Recklessly on Pavements) campaign in the Wirral area after huge success of the initiative around England.
The campaign aims to decrease criminal activity in the early hours of the morning. More specifically, it is looking at tackling motorists overtaking their waste disposal trucks. This has been a massive problem for bin men over the years, with Stafford Constabulary reporting over 300 incidents of injury or fatality as a result of reckless driving on pavements.
Lawrence Emerson, Biffa’s Head of Health and Safety, said: “I joined Biffa in 2015 from an aviation background, so I am used to high risk workplaces. When I went out with our crews on their collections, my jaw was on the floor – I could not believe what I was seeing and the danger the crews were facing every day due to reckless drivers.
“The careless behaviour of drivers has been accepted by our staff as ‘part of the job’. Up until recently, they rarely reported such incidents to their managers let alone the police.”
The DROPs campaign is also in place to make sure their employees are doing their jobs properly. The CCTV itself will be placed on the back of the truck, allowing full view of licence plates to secure driver ID if needed.
Sergeant Paul Mountford from the Matrix Roads Policing Unit said: “DROPs enables us to better identify and deal with those drivers whose dangerous, impatient and thoughtless actions place Biffa operatives doing their jobs and the general public at risk.”
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